Kendal offers public lectures on American painters, more

Kendal at Granville is presenting a lecture series, “The Great Awakening: Painters of America”, with Professor Karri Fritz-Klaus, July 30-Aug. 4 at Kendal, 2158 Columbus Road in Granville.

According to an event news release, “In this art history lecture series, along with studying great works of art, we will delve into the lives of artists who have influenced the course of mankind and the history of humanity through their art.

“Artists have always been an integral part of the generative force of the America vision,” the release continues. “In the course of over three centuries, American painting has developed from early portraiture, through the burgeoning majestic panoramas of 19th century landscape painting and ultimately positioning itself as a leader in the world of modern art.”

The schedule for lectures, all free and open to the public, is as follows:

•July 30, 7 p.m.: “John Singleton Copley: Translator of Historical Story and Heroic Character into Pictorial Form”: Copley was “the” portrait painter of the American Revolution during the Romantic period of the history of art. He captured the shrewdness of character of our iconic American forefathers and foremothers in pairing the grand portraiture of English style with exacting authentic detail of his Dutch contemporaries. His portraits conveyed “the plain, exulted vision” of the young Republic in search of a style in which antiquity was American’s destiny.

•July 31, 7 p.m.: “Hudson River School Movement: An American Vision Seen through the eyes of Painter Kate Minor”: The lecture will be viewed through the eyes of Professor Fritz-Klaus’ great, great aunt, Kate Minor, who was a significant part of the Movement. Throughout the study of this art, one can witness America at its beginnings – the new and breathtaking frontier. Our eyes will be awakened to the splendor of its Manifest Destiny. Emerson and Thoreau wrote of an elemental need for the wilderness. The common man believed in the greater purity of the natural environment. Nature was shaped by God and therefore, “fraught with high and holy meaning.”

•Aug. 1, 7 p.m.: “Coming Away With Winslow Homer”: Homer captures the very spirit of rocky coastlines with their backdrops of dramatic blustery skies and shimmering sands. Homer’s pictures have a rugged authenticity about them, emphasizing the dynamic struggle between humanity and the natural world. His paintings illustrate a forthrightness and direct, comprehensive way of telling a story – an American story – the strength and nobility of the working man and working woman in their timeless heroic pose against “the horizons both beckoning and foreboding.”

•Aug. 2, 1 p.m.: “Georgia O’Keefe: Matron Saint of the Brush”: Called the “Southwest’s Matron Saint of the Brush,” O’Keeffe devoted her life and her art to “distilling in form and color the essence of the world she saw.” Her signature style was “abstracting from nature,” monumentalizing “something small in the interest of surprising viewers into taking time to look at it.” Alfred Steiglitz, her mentor, impresario, and eventual husband, recognized that she was doing something that had never been done in American art before. Upon seeing her charcoal “Specials” for the first time, he proclaimed, “Finally a woman on paper!”

•Aug. 3, 7 p.m.: “Wolf Kahn: Bliss in The Struggle”: A student of the famed Abstract Expressionist painter – Hans Hoffman, over the broad spectrum of his career, Kahn created his own unique Color Field style – combining the luminosity of Turner, sweeping brushstrokes of Rothko, and Impressionistic palette of Monet, with Abstract Realism. Experience the serenity of his work as we walk through a Kahn forest, stop to gaze at a Kahn October barn, and meander along a Kahn riverbank spying an approaching rain. No matter what struggle life bring our way, you will feel the bliss . . . and be content!

•Aug. 4, 7 p.m.: “Salon Reception: Sharing of Artistic Expressions”: Join in sharing of your artistic expressions, and reminiscing on the week’s lectures and artistic and musical endeavors. Live music played by Harrison Ponce on piano. Light refreshments will be served.